Newark Draws Voters on N.J. Primary Day

NEWARK, N.J. — Early exit polls in a primary contest for rare open congressional seat here gave a significant edge to the son of the late congressman who held the seat for years.

Voters interviewed after leaving polling places in Newark and Jersey City mostly reported voting for Donald Payne Jr., the son of the late Rep. Donald Payne. The elder Mr. Payne died in March after serving in congress for 23 years.

“His father was a great man. He did a lot of legislation that was good for the common people,” said William Hampton, 72 years old, a retired Jersey City housing authority worker.

Campaign officials for Municipal Councilman Ron C. Rice, one of the leading challengers for the seat, spoke confidently about the results so far. ”We’ve got people all over the place,” said Michael Makarski, a senior campaign advisor.

Turnout was light Tuesday as voters cast ballots in 16 primary battles across New Jersey.

The other competitive race, also in the state’s northern end, pitted two Democrats, Reps. Bill Pascrell and Steve Rothman, against each other after redistricting forced a primary race in a distrcit spanning populous Bergen and Passaic counties.

More tempered Republican primaries with Tea Party-backed candidates were playing out in two other districts.

In well-off District 7, Rep. Leonard Lance is being challenged again by businessman David Larsen, who ran a competitive race against the incumbent in 2010. Further south in District 6, Tea Party favorite Anne Little was running against a fellow Republican for the chance to square off with Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone in November. The Highlands Mayor mounted a serious challenge to Pallone in 2010.

On the U.S. Senate level, Republican state Sen. Joe Kyrillos faced a nominal challenge from three other Republicans in his quest to unseat Sen. Bob Menendez in November.

Turnout was expected to be light overall on Tuesday, with only a handful of serious primary fights. Pollsters predicting less than 10% of New Jersey’s 5 million registered voters would make it to the polls. Voter-mobilization efforts were expected to play a pivotal role in the races.

In the most watched race, Rothman was an early favorite for the new 9th District; he had represented more of the area before redistricting. But Pascrell has narrowed the gap in the polls by running an aggressive campaign and picking up the backing of former President Bill Clinton.

The drama in the contentious race came to a head Monday night when the Rothman campaign briefly succeeded in getting about 2,000 absentee ballots to be held for irregularities. The write-in ballots were from Paterson, a Passaic County city where Pascrell had served as mayor.

The Passaic County elections superintendent ordered that the ballots be impounded, but a judge vacated the order Monday night and ruled that the Rothman campaign could inspect them Tuesday morning.

Georgia Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights leader, recorded a phone message for the Pascrell campaign in response to the issue, which he called “voter suppression.”